Medication safety devices and methods

1. A medication safety system, comprising:

one or more data gathering infusion pumps adapted to controllably force fluid outwardly therefrom to a patient; and

an aggregating server configured to receive operational data from the one or more data gathering infusion pumps, the aggregating server including—

a drug list including a plurality of listed drug names;

an aggregator adapted to integrate the drug list and the received operational data to create a drug library having upper hard and soft limits and lower hard and soft limits associated with at least one drug; and

a graphical user interface for viewing, analyzing and modifying the drug library, the graphical user interface displaying a bar chart showing the infusion data and upper and lower soft limit bars for the at least one drug, wherein the upper and lower soft limits can be manipulated by a practitioner to restrict administration of the at least one drug by grabbing and dragging the upper and lower soft limit bars on the graphical user interface in touch-screen fashion to new positions associated with new upper and lower soft limits;

wherein the aggregating server is configured to compare the received operational data with the updated upper and lower soft limits to determine a compliance value representative of a percentage of the received infusion data that falls within the updated upper and lower soft limits; and

wherein upon completion, the drug library is uploaded to an infusion pump for implementation.

2. The medication safety system of claim 1 , wherein the graphical user interface and associated hardware and software is configurable to responsively re-analyze data and compare a particular infusion to the new upper and lower soft limits.

3. The medication safety system of claim 2 , wherein the drug library is updated with the new upper and lower soft limits after the re-analyzing.

4. The medication safety system of claim 3 , wherein the drug library is configured to be automatically updated with the new upper and lower soft limits after the re-analyzing.

5. The medication safety system of claim 3 , wherein the drug library is configured to be manually updated with the new upper and lower soft limits after the re-analyzing.

6. The medication safety system of claim 3 , wherein the updated drug library is configured to be uploaded to the syringe pump after the updating.

7. The medication safety system of claim 6 , wherein the updated drug library is wirelessly uploaded to the syringe pump after the updating.

8. The medication safety system of claim 2 , wherein the syringe pump is adapted to transmit infusion data to the aggregator, and to receive infusion data for the at least one drug including the updated upper and lower soft limits from the aggregator.

9. The medication safety system of claim 1 , wherein the medication safety system is configured to suggest the upper and lower soft limits.

10. The medication safety system of claim 9 , wherein the medication safety system is configured to suggest the upper and lower soft limits based on a compliance target default value.

11. The medication safety system of claim 10 , wherein the graphical user interface is configured to display compliance data.

12. The medication safety system of claim 11 , wherein the compliance data includes an indication of conformity with the compliance target default value.

13. The medication safety system of claim 12 , wherein the indication is a color or highlighting scheme.

14. The medication safety system of claim 10 , wherein the medication safety system is configured to log compliance data as a continuous quality improvement (CQI) event.

15. The medication safety system of claim 1 , wherein the graphical user interface is configured to display a delivery history for the at least one drug.

16. The medication safety system of claim 1 , wherein the graphical user interface is configured to display a timeline of infusions for a particular patient for evaluation of compliance with the drug library.

17. The medication safety system of claim 1 , wherein the graphical user interface is configured to display a pump history log.

18. The medication safety system of claim 17 , wherein the graphical user interface is configured to display a color or highlighting scheme of the pump history log to differentiate events that are in compliance with the drug library from events that are non-compliant with the drug library.

19. The medication safety system of claim 1 , wherein the medication safety system is configured to provide emulation of a “rate, volume, run” pump operating scheme by the syringe pump.

20. The medication safety system of claim 19 , wherein the emulation facilitates transition from a “rate, volume, run” pump operating scheme to an operating scheme in which one or more safety limits for delivery of a particular medication to a particular patient are automatically imposed.

21. The medication safety system of claim 19 , wherein the emulation facilitates transition from a “rate, volume, run” pump operating scheme, to an intermediate pump operating scheme, to an operating scheme in which one or more safety limits for delivery of a particular medication to a particular patient are automatically imposed.

22. The medication safety system of claim 1 , wherein the infusion pump in which the drug library is uploaded for implementation is one of the one or more data gathering infusion pumps.